October - November 2018 (Issue 120)

Teddy Kamel is a native of Lebanon who after an unexpected decision to visit Spain over vacation, fell in love with the country and ended calling it home. He introduced the people of this land to a simple and very common type of food, which allowed him to open his own restaurant. HN talked to the man about his plan to take the concept of Lebanese fast food all over the world.

What are the factors that distinguish your restaurant?

There are a number of reasons why our brand is successful, such as acute knowledge of our market, the adaptation of our Lebanese products to the European food palette, the simplicity and freshness of the products and the image of our restaurant aka colors and display.

What are your expansion plans?

We are considering expanding by first opening new outlets and franchising them in Barcelona. This will be followed by expanding our presence to northern Europe, as that region’s inhabitants lead a healthy lifestyle, have a love for Mediterranean spices and a desire to eat fresh nourishing foods. Lastly, South America is a region laden with promise due to its people’s knowledge and love for Lebanese food that came by way of the Lebanese diaspora living there.

What, in terms of offerings, will be some of the new items to be added?

We just added baked falafel to the menu, which was an immediate success as it combines most of what we represent: freshness, Mediterranean spices and healthy food coupled with trendy products like chickpeas and sesame.

In looking a decade ahead, what are your expectations?

In 10 years we hope to become leaders in the Lebanese fast food industry. I say this with complete confidence as I see the saj competing with burgers, pizzas and hotdogs, all of which have become common the world over. In aid of spreading the word, we will be optimizing all the social media tools at our disposal and with the backing of the Lebanese diaspora, great progress could be quickly achieved.